With the creation of a multiplicity of new and widely different applications designed to execute on a variety of devices, instructional materials on how to use various functions in these applications are becoming increasingly important. Traditional help menus may fail to describe, in an efficient way, the implementation of various functions that require multiple steps, or otherwise require complex steps or inputs to effectuate in a given application, such as a productivity or business application, a content development application, a video game or other content item, and others. In these and other contexts, instructional videos may provide assistance and instructions to aid in the performance of certain functions or actions in the application. However, current instructional videos may be limited with respect to their ability to easily and effectively demonstrate performance of various operations. For example, it may often be difficult for users to learn and understand an operation without seeing the operation performed directly within an application that actually executes on the user's own device. While instructional videos may sometimes show video of an operation being performed in an application, the application executes on a device shown in the video as opposed to actually executing on the user's own device. Thus, the user may be unable to fully appreciate how performance of the applications looks on the user's own device. For example, an operation may sometimes involve interaction with various menu items, and the user may be unable to see such menu items being interacted with inside an executing application on the user's own device.